In the last couple of weeks I have not stuck to my diet like in the past. I wasn’t sure what was going on so I decided to look at my day as a whole, and it hit me. Where I have faltered is dieting while working. I work six hours straight with clients from 4:00 a.m. until 10:00 a.m., and get up at 2:10 every morning.

Oatmeal is my new staple. Wikimedia Commons.

Lack of consistency hinders my program

Then I train from 10:00 a.m. until I get the job done. Because I never really paid attention to the time frame, I realized I was eating when I woke, once between clients [if lucky], and at the end of my shift. That is way too much of a spread for me. Everyone diets differently, but I have to be consistent or else I lapse. I need to eat every two to 2.5 hours or else I’m craving stuff I don’t even like by the evening.

Journaling my food 

For the first time in a long time, I wrote down what I was eating. I stopped doing this a while ago because it mentally weighed on me. It made me crazy– to put it simply. Unfortunately, after writing it down, I realized I was well below my normal caloric intake for a bodybuilding show, and that’s another reason I’ve wanted to eat everything in sight.

Change of foods and finding consistency

With all this new information, I’ve decided to keep my meals very simple, and even use supplements in some cases. I prefer not to use supplements during prep, however, sitting down to a real meal while training clients just isn’t going to happen. On the other hand, no one will mind if I have a shake with oats in it, and some almonds.

Let’s hope I can stick to the new program.  41 days out.